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April 11 Conference on Emerging Approaches to Animal Ethics

Despite 200 years of animal welfare laws, which require “humane” treatment and prohibit the imposition of “unnecessary” suffering, animal exploitation is occurring in more horrific ways than at any time in human history.

On Friday, April 11, 2014, Rutgers School of Law–Newark will host a conference on “Animal Ethics: Abolition, Regulation or Citizenship” at which emerging approaches to acknowledging the moral value of animals will be explored in an interdisciplinary setting by some of the foremost scholars in the field.

These new approaches include: 1) arguing for the status of nonhuman animals as right-holders and challenging the use of animals as human resources and not just the treatment of animals whose use is assumed to be morally permissible (the rights or abolitionist approach); 2) retaining a welfarist framework of “humane” use but modifying it in certain ways (the regulationist approach); and 3) promoting a theory of animal rights that allows for a continued relationship between humans and nonhumans in various contexts and explores the various relational duties involved (the citizenship approach).

Speakers will include (in alphabetical order):

Anna E. Charlton, Adjunct Professor of Law, Rutgers School of Law–Newark, and former Director, Rutgers Animal Rights Law Clinic